112 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK JOE DYSART HOW FASTENER DISTRIBUTORS CAN BECOME A PROFITABLE PRESENCE ON LINKEDIN from page 44 The most influential thought leader on LinkedIn -- in terms of sheer numbers -- is Bill Gates. He has 34.9 million followers. While it may take you awhile for your fastener distributorship to leave Gates in the dust as you’re establishing yourself as a thought leader on LinkedIn, there is still plenty of opportunity for you along the way to offer your own, special expertise on your industry -- and reap the rewards of ever-growing recognition, an evergrowing network of new contacts, and in a perfect world, an ever-growing tally of new business. Tempted? The way from here-to-there, according to experts in thought leadership, is to implement this game-plan: ¤ Crystallize the objectives driving you to become a thought leader: Go beyond the overall concept of seeking greater exposure and identify the precise reasons why you believe thought leadership will benefit your fastener distributorship. Says Harishi Jain, a marketing specialist at Social Sense, a digital marketing platform specializing LinkedIn content creation (www.socialsense.ai): “Before diving into content creation, set clear objectives. What do you want to achieve with your thought leadership on LinkedIn? Are you aiming to grow your network, enhance your professional reputation, or generate leads for your ENHANCE THE CREDIBILITY OF YOUR UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE BY REFERENCING REPORTS, STATISTICS AND SIMILAR THIRD- PARTY RESOURCES business? Clear goals will guide your content strategy and help measure success.” ¤ Identify where you’ll be posting to your target audience: This seemingly incidental task is actually key to ensuring that you’ll much more effective with the content you’ll be creating. Are you looking to target toplevel technical executives, experts, YOU CAN FIND DOZENS -- IF NOT HUNDREDS -- OF SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS WHERE YOU CAN PUBLISH YOUR THOUGHT LEADERSHIP POSTS USING THE ‘FIND AND JOIN A LINKEDIN GROUP’ SEARCH ENGINE rank-and-file workers? Once you’ve decided on an audience, it becomes much easier to decide the best way to reach-out to them. You’ll be able to find dozens -- if not hundreds -- of special interest groups on LinkedIn where you can publish every post you create -- and reach-out to all the members in each of those groups. Some of groups may have under a hundred members. Others can have tens-of-thousands of members or more. To find the special interest groups that are a natural fit for fastener distributors, simply check-out the ‘Find and Join a LinkedIn Group’ search engine (www.linkedin.com/ help/linkedin/answer/a544795). ¤ Decide on your expert perspective: Given that there’s a good chance that there are many gurus and experts in your industry already posting on LinkedIn, it’s important to take a step back, evaluate what’s being presented by other people -- and then distill an expert perspective that is not being offered on LinkedIn, or not being offered in the way you can offer it. Says Bardeen.ai’s Gong: “Once you have identified your niche, focus on creating content and engaging in discussions that showcase your unique perspective and knowledge. By consistently providing value and demonstrating your expertise in a specific area, you will attract the right audience and establish yourself as a go-to resource in your field.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 146
THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK 113 AFC Industries has acquired Birmingham UK based distributor Forward Industrial Products (Forward Industrial Products Group) through its TFC Business Unit. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Forward Industrial Products is an industry leading supplier of C Class components, vendor managed inventory services and MRO services, with a focus on enhancing the productivity and effectiveness of its customers’ manufacturing operations. Forward provides a range of valueadded services as well as both standard and custom items and engineered products. Birmingham-based Bracebridge Corporate Finance was the sole advisor to Forward for the transaction. We’re really pleased to be part of AFC and the growing TFC group. The partnership is a perfect fit for Forward Industrial,” said Martyn Cleaver, Managing Director of Forward. “It opens up new opportunities within our existing customer network and enables us to share our 28 years of industry expertise with TFC’s customers and bring their strengths to ours. Our management team is excited about the next chapter with AFC/TFC.” AFC CEO Kevin Godin remarked, “It was a strategic goal of ours to expand our operations and capabilities in the U.K. and Europe in a way that would complement our TFC team. Forward is a great fit for us both culturally and geographically. Their dedication to service and solving problems for customers make them a natural integration for us.” President of AFC Europe (TFC), Morgan Burgoyne, added, “bringing these teams together immediately strengthens both and further establishes us as the leading component solutions provider in our key markets. The future is bright as we continue to invest in the right people and capabilities to provide superior market knowledge and service to our customers.” Headquartered in West Chester, OH, AFC Industries is a dynamic organization dedicated to providing supply chain management solutions on small components and tooling for a diverse base of manufacturers and assemblers across a broad range of industries. Through its experienced team and global resources, AFC excels at making customer manufacturing and assembly processes more efficient and cost-effective. (www.afcind.com). TFC, a Business Unit of AFC, is a leading provider of vendor managed inventory solutions and technical engineering products in Europe. It has supplied engineering products and c class parts across Europe for over 60 years. Its focus is on helping customers improve manufacturing efficiencies and providing design expertise, VMI solutions and innovation in technical product development. For more information about AFC Industries, contact them at 9030 Port Union Rd, West Chester Township, OH 45011, Tel: 513-874-7456, email: sales@afcind.com or visit them online at www.afcind.com.
In the Fall 2024 issue of 6 DISTRIB
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